Figure (Bul-ul)
Text
Inventory number SA 34152
Male bul-ul figure made of wood. The Bul-ul are also known as rice guards or rice gods, because they once ensured a good harvest, protected the rice granaries from pests and protected the rice stocks from being destroyed by all kinds of calamities. It was carved in such a way that a round hairstyle can be seen and the ears have round holes on which the ritual priest (Mumbaki) sometimes placed ears of rice during the harvest rituals. Possible traces of a blood patina. During the performance of rice rituals, the mumbaki priest sometimes touches the bul-ul figure with his hands, which he previously dipped in the blood of a sacrificed pig. Text: Prof. Dr. Leah E. Abayao, Cordillera Studies Center, UP Baguio.
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Map Linden Museum Stuttgart
Metadata
Date
19th/20th Century
Rights
Creative-Commons-Lizenz-CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Identifier
SA-34152_7C6532B8494871BDC07D7EA1AF87F3C2
Origin
Ifugao; Luzon; Malay Archipelago
Materials
Wood, Bul-ul
Physical Dimensions
Height: 50cm Width: 16 cm Depth: 13cm
Provenance
The collector, Christian Roll was a German journalist. He reported from the previous war zones of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, the Philippines and many other places in Asia. His autobiography "Street of Happiness" describes him as adventurer who had no worries, even from the most famous places to report. But they also saw him as a drinker and a man who regularly traveled in the Red Sea of Asia. On the basis of his lifestyle, he always spent money, which he tried to buy through the purchase of antiques in Asian markets, which he then sold to German collectors. In the course of time, science developed and published only a few articles in international magazine magazines. The Curator for Asia (1955-1971) and later Director of the Linden Museums (1971-1986), Dr. Friedrich Kußmaul, was a regular customer of Roll and bought several hundred items from him. Rolls correspondence with Kußmaul has since closed, that the objects from the Cordillerans in the 1970s on Philippine markets and from traders. He traveled there with William Beyer, the son of American ethnologist Henry Otley Beyer, a specialist in the indigenous culture of the Cordillerans. As a result of the intensified campaigns of the evangelical mission in the Cordillera, at that time many old ritual objects were either sold or sold for a small amount of money in the market, so that their urgent estates were soon to be judged. Text: Georg Noack.
Collection
Roll; 2815
Collection
Roll; 2815
Acquisition Date
1977
Display status
not displayed
Official Website
Collection
Source
Translated from German by Google Translate. Record accessed November 2021.
Cite this Page
“Figure (Bul-ul),” Mapping Philippine Material Culture, accessed April 20, 2024, https://philippinestudies.uk/mapping/items/show/15330.
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